What is a Hypercar

“It’s not about going fast, it’s about being fast. It’s about elevating human experience to places we’ve never been before.”

Supercars elicit an emotion from those who interact with them. They don’t have to be all that fast, but the looks, the sound, the way the car feels when driving must be extraordinary.

Hypercars, on the other hand, are more than extraordinary. They showcase the edge of what is possible for road cars. They are the best money can buy.

The Bugatti Veyron

Bugatti is a brand that has been pushing limits since the early days of automobiles. It had a hiatus through the mid to late 1900’s and came back in the 90’s with the 110, a quad-turbocharged V-12 engined car. Then in 2005, they came out with the Veyron which had a quad-turbo W-16 seated in the middle with 1000 hp. A few years later that number got boosted to 1200 hp after the Hennessey Venom beat it in a top speed run. The new iteration holds the top speed record for a production car at 265.7 mph. While Bugatti is building cars that are fast in a straight line, there are a few brands pushing limits in other ways.

2013

The Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918, and Mclaren P1 all came out in the same year. It is unlikely to ever again see a year where three brands release cars that push what was previously thought as possible up about five levels. Each of these cars features a completely different hybrid system that makes the car accelerate in a way unfamiliar to anyone.

People have been building fast cars since the automobile was first conceived. These three, however, were on a whole new level. They were what came to fruition when the best engineers in the world got together with a near unlimited budget and were told to make the fastest, most advanced car possible.

Koenigsegg

Christian von Koenigsegg is what many people would consider a mad scientist. He founded a company with the sole mission: to create the perfect supercar. Located in a Swedish Air Force hangar that housed Squadron No.1 whose insignia was a flying ghost, which in placed in the engine bay of every car produced there.

The Regera is their current project. Announced in 2015; it has 1,500 coming from three electric motors and a turbo V8. The truly amazing thing though is the car uses a direct drive system, so there are no gears. Instead, it uses the electric motors to get the car moving and then transitions to the gas motor. Something that has never even be imagined before. And that is the essence of the hypercar.

“To create the perfect car with no compromises, no limits, and no fear of failure.” – Christian von Koenigsegg